It’s Official: A’s Minor League Going to Nashville
By Tony Frye
May 20, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Oakland Athletics hat and glove lays in the dugout against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
As Nick Avila wrote earlier this week, The Sacramento River Cats had submitted a request to sever any ties with the Oakland A’s. This came as no surprise to anybody; Susan Slusser had been reporting about the possibility of that happening since May.
There was considerable analysis to suggest that the replacement AAA affiliate would be the Nashville Sounds and, sure enough, the A’s have officially announced just that. In a press release this morning, the A’s have gone public with a four year player development deal (affiliation) with the team. This is the Sound’s seventh major league affiliation since their formation in 1978.
In 2015 The Sounds will be opening a brand new ballpark and that appears to have been at least a small factor in the decision to move there.
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The argument can be made that Fresno would have been a better option for the A’s to affiliate but I like this Nashville move. Fresno has a small airport which can service a flight to Oakland but if the A’s are playing in Detroit or Boston, may require a few more steps, thus, delaying player arrival. Nashville is a major city with a firm grounding in entertainment.
Tennessee is not as “southern” as you may think, either. I know the knee jerk reaction from some folks is to think the A’s are moving to Mars but the state is a pretty solid centralized location for baseball. Sure, it’s nowhere near Oakland but it’s a short plane trip to most of the major cities the A’s play. You have to remember that half of the games a team plays are on the road. Now, if something happens to Brandon Moss while the team is in St. Louis, Boston, New York, Miami, Houston, Colorado, Washington, Baltimore, Detroit or Chicago, they can have Daric Barton suited up by game time.
It’s sad to see the Rivercats jump over to another team, especially the Giants who already have a minor league team in San Jose. Instead of getting mad at Sacramento, though, let’s focus our minor league focus on Stockton. These players may have a while before they’re in the majors but a lot of great big leaguers are coming out of that team in the next few years so watch out.
It is worth noting, in case you weren’t aware, that the players and coaches that brought the Rivercats so much success over their affiliation with the A’s will be traveling to Nashville as their contracts are owned by Oakland and not Sacramento. Also of note, a young man named Bob Melvin caught for The Sounds in 1985.
Best of luck to the Sounds!